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Special Needs Students Accidentally Burned At Keller School

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KELLER (CBSDFW.COM) – Nicholas Chaney’s parents trust he’s taken care of at school just like he is at home. Nicholas, 18, has cerebral palsy. “I admire the teachers they do a very good job with them,” says his mother Pauline Chaney.

But now that trust is shaken. “As I got closer he smelled like burned hair and burned skin,” says Nicholas’ stepfather, Rudy Moreno.

Moreno says on Wednesday his son’s special needs class at Keller High School went outside. At the time other students were using charcoal grills as part of a cooking class.

Moreno took CBS 11 to the school on Thursday pointing to the black marks on the concrete. He still doesn’t know what exactly happened, but has pieced together that charcoal from the grills were gathered onto a cookie sheet. “There was a kettle placed on top of the charcoal the kettle was removed I think the cookie sheet blew all the charcoal over,” explains Moreno.

The grill was about 7 feet away from the special needs group.

It was very windy day, and Moreno says the hot charcoal rained on 3 to 5 special needs students including Nicholas, burning them badly.

In pictures taken by Moreno there are buns on Nicholas’s shirt, his hair singed and his scalped burned.

Moreno rushed Nichols to the hospital. It was determined he suffered first and second degree burns from the charcoal.

What bothers Nicholas’ parents is that no paramedics were called and they didn’t even find out about what happened until 45 minutes later.

“I don’t understand what they were thinking not calling a paramedic they call the school nurses to take care of these children the school nurses are not doctors,” says Pauline Chaney.

“We just want the truth we just want to know what happened to our son,” says Chaney.

In response Keller ISD released a statement Thursday reading: “Keller ISD is aware of the situation that occurred at Keller High School on Wednesday. Two employees have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation.”

Two other parents say their children are recovering at home with burns as well.